Friday Blog Roundup

Most of my blog reading this week has involved swine flu; feel free to add non-flu-related links to other worthwhile blog posts in the comments. (More flu links are welcome, too.)

First, a few numbers: CDC has confirmed 141 cases in the US; Mexico reports that it has 358 confirmed cases; and the WHO reports 68 additional confirmed cases in 11 other countries. The current worldwide pandemic alert level is 5.

At The Wonk Room, Igor Volsky reminds us that it can be hard to follow CDC’s advice if you don’t have health insurance, and Pat Garofalo points out that a lack of paid sick days is also a problem.

Merrill Goozner at GoozNews reports that Arlen Specter’s negotiation on the stimulus package shifted money to research by taking it away from public health – leaving many local agencies without money that would be very useful right now.